Will you be my hero?
by JellyBeanBubbles
Summary: Natsu and Gray were both desperate to find work, when a busty blonde comes along and offers them a chance at a secret government project, they jump for it. But secret organizations and a little attraction isn't making their jobs any easier, not to mention the war they will now be fighting… NALU and other pairings included :D Its my first fic so forgive if its weak
1. Strange encounter

**CHAPTER 1:**

We enter the city of Magnolia in a country known as Fiore, where there are threats of war looming in the air from their neighbouring country; Symphonia **[A/N Get it? From Rave Master, hehe] ** so both countries were prepping for war while hoping that they wouldn't have to.

In Magnolia we enter a local bar where we see 2 friends rough-housing with each other and causing a big mess for the bartender

"You wanna call me that one more time you stripping freak!?" said the pink-haired man.

"I'll say it again only coz it seems your hard of hearing too, 'YOURE AN IDIOT!', you hear me that time huh?!" screamed the raven-haired man.

"That's it, your gonna get it now!" said the pink-haired man, but just before they could land any punches on each other the bartender decided that she would shut them up _*WHACK* *WHACK*_ by punching them both on their heads.

"Knock it off you 2, your annoying my customers!" screamed the bartender.

Her bar was always busy at this time of night, in other words this time of day was when the money started coming in and she didn't have time to baby-sit her idiot friends right now.

"Ouch! Geez Cana was that really necessary!?" yelled the pink-haired guy.

"Yes Natsu, it was, or else you'd wreck my bar AND chase away my business! I have bills to pay you know!?" this caused Natsu to slump his shoulders and pout.

"Hahaha, serves you right pinkie" said the raven-haired guy, this comment got him another whack on the head from Cana.

"Your not one to talk Grey! Your friggen stripping freaks out my customers too! I mean seriously, how do you not even notice!?" screamed Cana, now Grey was sulking like Natsu while fumbling to put his discarded shirt back on, both guys remained silent for fear of being hit again, they both already had bumps on their head.

"Now Grey what did Natsu do this time?" said Cana.

"Hey why do you always think its my fault!?" said Natsu, Cana lifted an eyebrow at him.

"Oh, so it was Greys fault then?" she then crossed her arms and waited for his reply, but when she noticed him pull a defeated face and lean an elbow on the bars counter-top she knew she had her answer.

"That's what I thought" she then diverted all her attention on Grey "So, tell me what happened" she gestured for Grey to speak, and he let out an exhausted sigh.

"We went out looking for a job at the construction site down the road, we almost got it until one of the workers made fun of Natsu's hair" Grey explained.

"Oooooh, ok I get it now, so I'm guessing Natsu lost it right?" said Cana.

"Lost it!? He punched the guy so hard he flew backwards a few feet, right in front of our would-have-been boss, then started screaming like a maniac, shouting how 'ITS SALMON NOT PINK!' to everybody there" said Grey, Cana couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"Hahahaha, s-so you lost ANOTHER job c-coz he lost his temper, hahahahaha, a-about his hair?! Hahahaha".

"Its not funny Cana, we don't have jobs and this guy is eating us out of house and home! We'll be evicted if we don't find paying jobs anytime soon!" said Grey, he then started banging his head on the counter in frustration, then rested it on the counter and began to let out small sobs "I might have to sell my kidney just to make it till next week".

Grey then received a light punch on the shoulder from Natsu and saw him giving off a reassuring grin "Don't be such a sour-puss Grey, things will work out for us" said Natsu.

Grey gave him a shocked expression then let out a sigh "Geez, your never-ending optimism is sickening, you know that?" they both let out a light chuckle which caused Cana to smile at the scene in front of her.

"Geez, to think you 2 were ready to kill each other just a minute ago, now your all buddies again, you really are best friends huh?"

They both looked at Cana, then at each other and gave off a light blush at her remark "Pft, whatever" said Grey.

"Like I want a compulsive stripper for a friend" said Natsu, this created a tick mark on Grey's head.

"What was that?" asked Grey, Cana decided to interrupt before they tried to fight again.

"Well if you guys are so desperate to find work, why not just enlist in the army? I mean its not like they can say no to you guys, you are in top shape" said Cana with her hand on her hip, she had always wondered why they never bothered enlisting, hell her own father was a General.

As they were about to respond to her, a blonde woman made her way to the bar, she was wearing a white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a few buttons undone, revealing some of her chest, a black pencil skirt with black stiletto heels, her hair was done in a side-pony and she was carrying her purse in one hand and a jacket in the other, she took a seat next to Grey and placed her purse on the bar, she had no idea about the conversation going on next to her, so when Natsu suddenly started yelling she let out a small 'eep' in surprise.

"No way in hell! I am not joining the army!" he yelled.

"I agree with Natsu, no way in hell" said Grey, not even noticing the blonde girl next to him, who was listening to their conversation.

"Oh? And whats your problem with the army? Too wimpy for the training or something?" asked Cana, she was now a little annoyed with them.

"Ha don't make me laugh, I could handle that stuff easy" said Natsu, this was pissing Cana off, she felt like he was mocking the military, and indirectly her father.

"Oh, is that so, then what's the big deal?" she said in an annoyed tone.

"Look, we both lost our parents when they joined the army, and we really have no interest in killing people, we're not trying to diss the army or anything Cana, we just have trust issues with them, I mean they died and we're not even at war yet" said Grey, this caused Cana to pull back a bit, she didn't know about their parents.

"Oh please, you guys are so naïve" they all turned to the person who made the comment and then noticed the blonde girl taking a sip of her whiskey that the male bartender had given her, she had a slightly amused expression on her face, which was pissing Grey off, while Natsu just gave her a questioning look.

"Oh Miss Heartfilia, when did you get here?" asked Cana, the guys then sent a questioning look at Cana with slight shock in their faces.

"You know this chick Cana?" asked Grey while pointing at the blonde.

"Well I should, she works directly under my father, in the science division, she's also a childhood friend" she said and sent a smile to the blonde.

"Yup, that's me, and for gods' sake Cana you don't have to be so formal with me, I'm off the clock right now" she said.

"Hahahaha, sorry Lucy, its just been a while, when did you get back in town?" asked Cana as she made her way to Lucy.

"Oh just a few hours ago actually, we made a real breakthrough with the research so we'll be in town for a while" said Lucy and she gave Cana a smile.

"That's great! Gives us plenty of time to catch up, by the way is my father here as well?" asked Cana, her eyes full of hope, she hasn't seen him in months.

"Not yet, he still has a few things to take care of at the base, but he'll be here by the end of the week" said Lucy, Cana was so happy hearing this news that she leaned over the bar and hugged Lucy tightly.

"That's great news Lucy, thanks for telling me" she said with tears in her eyes

"Hahaha, no problem-""-Ahem" Grey decided to interrupt their little reunion, he was still pissed about Lucy's comment and wanted to know what she meant by it, that and he didn't like being ignored either, both girls then directed their attention to Grey and Cana let go of Lucy.

"Sorry to interrupt but what the hell did you mean by calling us naïve?" he asked angrily, Lucy gave him a questioning look, then she remembered their conversation

"Oh that, well I was referring to the fact that you think that just because we never PUBLICLY declared war on anyone that there's no fighting going on" she said, then she took another sip of her drink "Oh, and the whole thing about not wanting to kill people, I'll admit the thought is admirable, but under these circumstances its just stupid and could get you killed" she said after she took her sip, this just pissed Grey off even more, and Natsu was also fuming.

"And just what the hell does that mean 'Publicly declared war' huh?" asked Natsu.

Lucy raised her eyebrow at the pink-haired boy, she thought she'll save the question of his hair colour for later.

"Well, while the public believes that we are in a state of 'peace' the enemy has already initiated the offensive on us, by attempting to sabotage our preparations" said Lucy as she was staring at her whiskey, with a sad look on her face, with a hint of anger in her eyes, this caused Natsu to stand up really fast, he had a shocked look on his face.

"B-but if that's true, shouldn't the public be warned?!" he asked, Cana then grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him down to his chair.

"Keep it down you idiot!" she whisper-yelled at him.

"Well if your reaction was any indication, it would cause mass panic, and the king would prefer it if the citizens remained oblivious, basically he's trying to stop it from turning into a full-scale war and keep as many people alive as possible".

This shut Natsu and Grey up for a moment while they were trying to take in what she was saying.

"Don't get me wrong, the military does keep its fair share of secrets, but most of the time its to protect the people, MOST of the time" said Lucy.

"Pft, whatever I'm still not enlisting" said Natsu.

"Well I don't recall asking you to, or trying to change your mind either, and besides I don't think you'd last long anyway" said Lucy in slight annoyance as she took another sip of her drink, they all looked at Lucy with visible shock on their faces.

Natsu then made his way around Grey so that he was standing on the other side of Lucy, he had an annoyed look on his face.

"Oh, and why the hell not?! Think the training will be too much for me or something?! I'll have you know I'm the toughest guy you'll ever meet in your entire life!" he yelled at her while slamming his fist on the counter.

Lucy put her drink down an turned herself so that she was fully looking at Natsu, which made him a little nervous, he could see down her shirt which caused him to have a small blush, which went unnoticed by Lucy.

"Look buddy, I've heard that speech at least a dozen times and let me tell you something; none of those guys lasted 10 days, and even if you did somehow make it through the rigorous training, you'd be chewed out by all the guys for having pink hair and probably quit from all the crap they'll give you!" yelled Lucy.

This comment caused Natsu to snap and he slammed his fist really hard on the bar counter creating a fist-mark in it causing Lucy to flinch.

"MY HAIR IS NOT PINK! ITS SALMON GODDAMMIT!" he yelled, Lucy gave him a bewildered look while Grey just sighed and put his head in his hands, feeling embarrassed that he even knows this guy, and Cana was sending him a death-glare for wrecking her bar.

Then Lucy did something that shocked them all; she started laughing "Pft, hahahahaha, I-I, ahahahaha!" she was clutching her stomach from laughing so hard while they were all staring at her in shock, and Natsu was insanely annoyed now he kept thinking that Lucy was crazy or something.

"What the hells so funny!?" yelled Natsu.

"Ahahahaha, I-I'm s-sorry, haha, b-but when you slammed your fist on the counter I half-expected you to go on a rant about how you could handle the training, and say something about changing your hair colour, b-but w-when you said that thing about your hair, ahahahaha, I-I couldn't help it, hahahaha!" said Lucy, she was losing her breath from laughing so much.

Cana couldn't help but snicker a bit as well, Natsu did always get crabby when his hair was mentioned, but he would always defend it in such a weak way, Natsu was blushing slightly from embarrassment and at a loss for words, he just kept thinking to himself that she's lucky she's a girl or else he'd have punched him by now.

Grey also started snickering now, trying to contain his laughter by covering his mouth with his hands.

Lucy finally managed to stop laughing and catch her breath, she let out a relieved sigh.

"Ahem, sorry about that, didn't mean to make fun of your hair or anything, but your retort really surprised me, haha" said Lucy.

Natsu let out an annoyed groan "Whatever, anyway just don't call it pink again" he said as he sat down next to Lucy, putting his arms on the counter.

Lucy let out a giggle "Ok, ok, my bad, but is that your natural hair colour? Its quite unusual" she said as she stared at his hair.

"Of course its natural, would any guy really make his hair pink if he wanted to?" he asked slightly annoyed.

"The only reason I never dye my hair is coz the last thing my mom said to me was that she really loved my hair" his eyes changed from annoyed to slightly sad and Lucy felt a little bad for teasing him, but she thought it was really sweet of him to remember his mother that way.

"Wow, that's so sweet of you to think of your mother like that" said Lucy, Natsu had a small blush on his face and tried to hide it from Lucy by looking away from her

"Whatever" he said.

Cana shook her head, these guys were just too much for her, then she remembered how this whole conversation got started in the first place.

"So guys back on topic, what are you gonna do for work?" asked Cana.

The guys then sunk their heads down in depression with gloomy auras hovering above their heads.

Cana gave out a sigh of pity for her friends.

"Why don't you just let them work for you Cana? You need the help don't you?" asked Lucy, then suddenly the guys stiffened in their seats and Cana was wearing an angry expression.

"N-never again do I want to work for Cana" said Grey, his face had paled and there was fear in his eyes.

"N-never again" said Natsu who was wearing the same expression as Grey.

Lucy had a confused look on her face and then looked at Cana, hoping she can explain further.

"The last time I let these 2 morons work here was a disaster! They drank half of all my booze and kept on causing bar fights the whole time!" said Cana while she was pointing an accusing finger at the 2 of them.

"Ooooh, I get it now, hahaha, you guys were brave enough to try and drink Cana's stuff?" asked Lucy.

"I wouldn't call it brave, its just downright stupid!" said Cana, causing the guys to flinch in their seats.

Lucy giggled at the 2 guys, then an idea struck her "Well if you guys really need the work, my department is in need of more recruits" said Lucy.

Grey and Natsu both sent her a look of shock "Look I thought I already told you-" "-Its not what you'd call army work" Lucy said before Natsu could finish his sentence.

"Well, I mean, you'd have to pass the training first of course, but you wouldn't actually be officially enlisted" said Lucy.

"And just what the hell does that mean?" asked Grey.

"We've had a breakthrough in our research, but we need soldiers to test it out for us, but only the ones who we find acceptable ,I'm afraid I can't offer any more than that to civilians" Lucy explained, the guys just looked at her confused.

"Lucy, are you talking about what I think your talking about?" asked Cana, which caused the guys to send her a questioning look.

"Yup, I am, we finally finished it, now all that's left to do is prove it works" said Lucy with a proud smile on her face.

"Wait, so you want us to signup to be guinea pigs for you?!" asked Grey.

"Are you nuts?!" said Natsu.

Lucy just looked at them with a look of slight amusement on her face "No, I'm giving you a chance to BECOME guinea pigs, you'd have to pass the training first" said Lucy.

"Well what good does that do us? It sounds more like an interview than a job offer!" said Grey.

"Oh don't be ridiculous. You get paid for the training as well" said Lucy.

"Ha, probably get paid peanuts I bet" said Natsu, Lucy let out an exhausted sigh, she started digging through her purse, took out a pen and a piece of paper and started writing on it.

"Well anyway, here's my number and office contact if you change your mind, I also took the liberty of writing down the pay for the first week of the 1 month training programme. I need to head out now, I still have some last minute stuff to do" said Lucy, she then took out her wallet and put down some money on the counter.

"Lucy, you know I always give it to you on the house" said Cana.

"Oh I know, this is for them" she said as she pointed at Natsu and Grey, "Consider it a favour" she said, she then gave the paper with her information on it to Grey and made her way to the front door, waving as she kept her back turned.

"See you Cana" said Lucy.

"Sure thing Lucy" said Cana.

Natsu and Grey were bewildered while watching her leave; I mean how often does a stranger offer you a job after insulting you?

"Man what a weirdo" said Natsu.

"You said it, I mean just how much are they offering to pay for the training anyway?" said Grey.

Grey then looked at the paper to find the amount and Natsu looked over his shoulder to check as well, when they found the amount their eyes almost popped out of their sockets.

"H-How much now!?" said Natsu as he reached over Greys shoulder to grab the paper to make sure he had read it right, meanwhile Grey was frozen in shock.

"T-that much, and for 1 week?" muttered Grey.

"She must have missed a decimal point somewhere, that's just insane!" said Natsu.

Cana just leaned on her counter with an amused smirk on her face.

"So hows the army life look to ya now, huh boys?" said Cana, she started laughing at their shocked faces and then decided to pour them a celebratory drink of 'Jack Daniels', since Lucy paid for it anyway, while also pouring herself a glass.

"So? You gonna take the offer or what?" asked Cana.

Both guys looked at each other, seemingly speaking with eye contact, well it was just training anyway right, it's not like they'll actually pick us anyway, they thought.

The guys then picked up their drinks and clinked it together with Cana's.

"Hell yeah!" they shouted together.

**[A/N: ok I think this version is better than my first attempt, finally fixing this story, after my writers block at least :D] **


	2. Important phone calls

**CHAPTER 2: Important phone calls **

**[ A/N: Firstly I wanted to thank my first reviewers for their encouraging comments, ****_The Fairy King, haNAMI-chan101, and -roo_****, thank you sooo much, anyways here's the next chapter, hope you enjoy :D]**

It was about 10 in the morning, and Natsu decided that it was as good a time as any to make the phone call; he will admit that he and Grey aren't the smartest guys around, but they weren't stupid enough to turn down a job that paid THAT much money. Grey was next to him while he was dialling the number, in all honesty he would have preferred to make the call, but Natsu grabbed the paper right from under him before he could even try.

"Grey, before I call anybody please put some clothes on, your making me uncomfortable" said Natsu, Grey was confused, they were both in their shirts and boxers, but they always wore that when they went to bed, he looked down at himself and then noticed that his shirt AND boxers were on the floor instead of on him

"Gah! When did that even happen!?" shouted Grey "Tch, idiot" muttered Natsu as Grey tried to put his clothes back on "Sometimes I wonder why I haven't reported you to the cops for the amount of times you've flashed me" said Natsu "Coz then you'd have no-where to live dumb-ass" said Grey

"Oh yeah, anyway I'm calling her now" said Natsu, Grey couldn't help but feel that Natsu was somehow gonna mess this up if he wasn't there to stop him, so he listened carefully.

_*Briiiingg Briiiingg* _

_*Bri-* "Groan, Hello?"_ said a feminine voice

"Hey there, is this that Luigi chick from Cana's bar" said Natsu

Grey fell over when he heard what Natsu called their potential boss and only hope for employment, when he got up he punched Natsu on the head "You idiot her name is Lucy! L-U-C-Y! How did you even get Luigi from that!?" yelled Grey, Natsu was holding his head on the spot where Grey hit him while also keeping his cell phone to his ear "Ouch Grey! Huh? Lucy? Are you sure?" asked Natsu, Grey just face-palmed himself.

_"__Um, Hello? Is this some kind of prank call? Or do you have the wrong number or something?" _said Lucy

"Ah No no no no no! Um I'm Natsu from last night, we met at Cana's bar, and you offered me and my friend a job, remember?" said Natsu, hoping he didn't blow it with the job offer, he decide to sit on the couch, while Grey was standing behind it and nervously chewing his thumb, if Natsu did screw this up he was so gonna throw him out.

_"__*Yawn* I don't remember meeting a Natsu… Oh wait! Are you the guy with the pink hair?" _asked Lucy

Natsu grew a tick mark on his forehead and started to clench his fist "I told you its' not pink its salmon!" he yelled. Grey just hung his head, was this guy trying to blow it?

_"__Hahahaha, so it is you. So your name's Natsu huh? And don't get so moody just coz I called your hair pink, I mean seriously, what kind of person gets the name 'Lucy' mixed up with 'Luigi'? If anything I should be the one upset here" _said Lucy.

Natsu couldn't argue, she had a point there, so all he could do was pull a defeated face and grunt in response.

_"__Uhuh, that's what I thought, so anyway, what did you want to talk to me about? *Yawn*" _asked Lucy, Natsu noticed that she sounded really tired, despite how late in the morning it was

"Hey um, did I wake you up or something, you sound kinda sleepy?" asked Natsu.

_"__Huh *yawn* oh, no its fine *yawn* I needed to wake up anyway, I just finished up my research a little late last night. By the way what time is it?" _said Lucy sleepily

"Uhm, its like, 10 past 10 right now" said Natsu

_"__Oh really? Huh, don't think I've slept that long in a while, good thing I only have to be at work at 1 *yawn*" _said Lucy, Natsu was now a little curious about this chick,

"Uhm, hey, just out of curiosity what time did you go to bed?" asked Natsu

_"__Huh, let me see… around 6am I think, hahaha, what concerned about me?" _said Lucy in a teasing voice, Natsu now had a light blush on his face and was silently thankful that Grey was standing behind him and couldn't see it

"Whatever, so anyway back to the job offer-" _"-Oh so that's why you called, so you changed your mind huh? Hehe"_ said Lucy; she knew they would call her about that eventually. "Well we don't exactly have any other choice; we would be idiots to turn down all that cash" said Natsu "So anyway, what do we have to do?"

_"__Well, you'd have to come to my lab first so that I can do a physical exam on you guys, then you'll have to wait until the general comes down to start your training, provided you pass the physical anyway" _explained Lucy

"Hahaha, babe have you seen me, I'll pass that physical no sweat" said Natsu in a cocky tone with a smirk plastered on his face.

_"__Oh, a little cocky aren't we? Haha, that's good, means you at least have confidence, and we need guys with that, oh but you might have 1 little problem." _said Lucy.

Natsu raised an eyebrow "Oh yeah, what?" he asked

_"__If you call me 'babe' ever again I'll grind you into dust, you got that?" _Lucy warned, she hated it when guys called her that, and when you work for the army it tends to happen a lot, and she wasn't exactly a gentle person. Natsu paled at the tone of her voice, it was almost as if he could feel her killing intent coming through the phone "U-um, y-y-yes Ma'am" he said nervously, Grey was trying to contain his laughter and turned his head from Natsu, it wasn't often when Natsu was put in his place, and this time it was done by a girl.

_"__Good, that's what I like to hear, what time will you guys be able to make it to my lab? It's currently at the army recruitment centre" _said Lucy. Natsu and Grey were unemployed, so it's not like they had anything better to do, so any time was fine for them "Well we don't have anything else planned, being un-employed and all, so what time would you want us there?" asked Natsu.

_"__Hhhmm, well besides you guys, I have 3 other appointments, and that'll take 30 minutes each, plus lunch, so… how's 3:30 sound?"_ asked Lucy, they both gave each other a quick look then nodded their heads "That's cool, so do we just show up at the recruitment centre and wait for you or something?" asked Natsu.

_"__Pretty much, just hang around the waiting area and I'll come to show you guys to my lab. I'll be the only woman in a lab coat there, so you should spot me pretty easily" _said Lucy, Natsu raised his eyebrow and gave Grey a questioning look, Grey just shrugged in response "What are there only guys at your work, no other chick doctors or anything?" questioned Natsu.

_"__Hahahaha, well I'm only borrowing this lab in order to do physical exams for now, but I am the only female doctor here, there are nurses though" _said Lucy

"Man that sucks, I bet the recruits are getting on your nerves huh?" said Natsu, Lucy raised an eyebrow, she had no idea how to interpret that statement, but it was true though _"Oh? And why do you think that Mr Natsu?" _she asked

" Well, its just- um- what I mean is-" "-oh just give me the phone before you get us fired again" Grey interrupted before Natsu could explain, he ripped the phone out of his hand and decided to take over before Natsu said something stupid AGAIN.

"Hello? Lucy? This is Grey, the other guy from last night, please ignore this idiots remarks, he really has no idea what he's saying, so anyway we'll meet you there at 3:30, bye" and then he hung up, he did not want to risk her getting angry at them before they even started working "Are you a complete idiot!?" said Grey, Natsu got up and rammed his forehead against Grey's, he had an angry expression on his face,

"What was that you damn perv?!" yelled Natsu, Grey was fuming, it was times like these where he hated his friends honesty "Tell me Natsu, what were you going to tell her when you were trying to explain the thing about recruits getting on her nerves huh?! You were going to say something like 'well you're a chick and the recruits are guys and I'm sure they try to flirt with you and get all touchy behind the curtain right' something like that right?!" yelled Grey, Natsu pulled back from Grey and had a creeped out look on his face "T-tha stay out of my head Grey, gaah, that's so creepy!"

* * *

Meanwhile in Lucy's apartment she was staring at her phone in confusion after Grey hung up on her, "Just what the hell was that all about?" she said "Oh well, guess I'll take a shower since I'm up anyway".

She made her way to her bathroom, it wasn't fancy or anything, but considering that she was only staying temporarily anyway she didn't really need fancy, just functional. Her apartment was a small one-bedroom apartment with a small kitchen and a bathroom, and a slightly bigger living area. She bought this place for her short trips in order to avoid sleeping in military quarters, they were just too stuffy for her, and the cafeteria food was just awful, she couldn't understand how anyone could eat that stuff and keep it down.

She walked out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her and another towel to dry her hair. She was just about to go to her bedroom to grab some clothes when her cell began to ring, she recognized the personalized ring tone, and made her way to her phone "Hey Levy, is that you?" she asked.

_ "__Hehe, yup its me Lu, just wanted to check up on you, so, how are things?"_ asked Levy

"Oh can't complain, the city's still the same old same old, and I got a few more recruits for us. How are things on your end?" said Lucy, she heard Levy groan in agony and start to weep a little

_ "__Erza is drilling us like crazy over here! She keeps saying that just coz we work in a lab doesn't mean we don't need to be physically fit! Why does she have to be such a monster Lucy?!" _said Levy, Lucy just sweat-dropped and gave her a nervous laugh, she was beginning to rethink leaving Erza in charge while she was out of town.

"W-well don't worry, its only for a month" said Lucy, she felt so bad for her best friend right now, and knew this was a weak attempt to cheer her up, but she couldn't really say anything else.

_"__Lucy! We'll all be dead by then! And to make it worse, the main reason she even want us outside in the first place is so she can-" "-Levy who are you yelling at?" _Levy was interrupted by none other than Erza herself, she and Lucy tensed up at the same time, Levy was sweating bullets right now.

_"__A-a-ah, Erza i-its you, ehehehe, I-I was just checking up on Lucy for a bit, nothing else, ehehehe" _said Levy nervously, while Lucy was listening intently on her side

_"__Oh really? That's so sweet of you Levy, may I speak to her as well?" _said Erza, they both let a out a breath they didn't even know they were holding, thankful that she didn't hear their conversation.

_"__Ah, o-of course here you go, chat later Lu" _said Levy

"Ok, bye Levy" said Lucy "Try to give me a call tomorrow, ok?"

_"__Sure thing, bye"_ said Levy, then Erza started to speak

_"__So Lucy is everything alright over there, are you finding recruits ok?" _she asked

"Oh, yeah, don't worry about it, I found quite a few here actually, I'm gonna be giving them a physical exam later today" said Lucy, she was walking towards her bedroom to go get some clothes, while her free hand was drying her hair with a towel.

_"__Mhm, good work Lucy" _said Erza, Lucy smiled to herself, Erza was like a big sister to her, so it felt good being praised by her every so-often

"Gee, thanks Erza, oh by the way, what's this I hear about physical fitness training?" asked Lucy, she loved Erza, but she always had a tendency to work people a little too hard, and Lucy had a pretty good idea as to why she wanted to leave the lab so often as well.

_"__Well I thought a change of pace would be good for everyone, and the lab is a little stuffy so I thought some fresh air would do them some good too" _said Erza, Lucy had a knowing smirk on her face.

"Oh, so this has nothing to do with the fact that you can see Captain Jellal train his new subordinates or anything?" asked Lucy with a teasing tone in her voice.

Erza was now fumbling with the phone while sputtering incoherence's around, Lucy could tell that she was blushing as red as her hair right now.

_"__W-w-wha… I-I-I… t-t-that is, um w-w-well n-n-no I-I…" _fumbled Erza, Lucy couldn't help but giggle, she knew her friend had a thing for the Captain for a while now, and it was so cute how she got so easily flustered whenever he was mentioned, it was a side of Erza that only her friends had seen before.

"Hahahaha, it's ok Erza, calm down, no need to be so embarrassed" said Lucy, she heard Erza groan into the phone in embarrassment

_"__Forgive me Lucy, I'm totally abusing the authority you gave me, when you come back please feel free to punch me"_ said Erza, she said it in such a serious tone, Lucy just sweat-dropped, an abuse of authority would have been more like stealing all the cake in the mess hall, not exercising just to see the guy you like, that's what Lucy thought at least,**[ A/N: Well that's what she thinks anyway, to me its abuse of authority no matter which way you explain it, hehe] **

"Um I don't think that'll be necessary, I'll let it slide for now, but only if you promise to ease up on the exercise, you gotta remember that most of those guys chose lab work so that they wouldn't have to do much physical labour ok?" said Lucy, she had just finished getting dressed and was now making her way to the kitchen to grab some breakfast.

_"__O-ok, thank you Lucy, and again I apologize" _said Erza

"Its fine, relax, just go easy on them ok?" said Lucy, she grabbed a bowl and some cereal then went to her fridge for some milk, she then turned on her kettle to make some coffee for herself.

_"__Alright I will, by the way, Lieutenant Lahar keeps coming by to 'check on us' a lot, do you know anything about this?" _asked Erza, Lucy's face turned serious, she knew that the King was having mixed feelings about their research, so he'd sent his council members around to check on them to make sure that her research could deliver.

"Don't worry about it too much Erza, the Kings just a little paranoid about our research, if it works he doesn't want it ending up in the hands of the Symphonians, so he's just sending his lackeys to make sure we don't turn on him" explained Lucy

_"__I see… well I guess that makes sense then. How troublesome" _said Erza, sighing as she finished her sentence _"Well I should be getting back to work, I'll call you if anything else comes up ok?" _said Erza.

"Ok thanks, take care" said Lucy, and then she hung up and then gave out a big sigh, while she knew the King had honest intentions, his inspections were going to be a hindrance on their work, and they can't afford any distractions at this point in time. She scratched the back of her head in frustration,

"Man this is getting heavy, all I really care about is proving that IT works, I couldn't care less about anything else" she said.

Her thoughts then turned to the pink-haired guy she met at the bar, "I wonder if you and your friend have what it takes? Guess I'll find out eventually"

* * *

**[A/N: so how was that? Is it a bit better? The NALU is coming people, don't you worry!] :D**


	3. Lets get phsical

**CHAPTER 3: Lets get physical **

Lucy made her way into the recruitment centre; it was 12:50 so she had arrived on time for work. She was wearing a black pencil skirt that was mid-thigh and a white button-up shirt that she buttoned all the way, leaving only the top button open and a pair of black heels and glasses. Her hair was parted into two low-hanging pigtails.

She was not naïve, she knew that all the recruits she passed in the waiting room were ogling her, but she just ignored it. _'Geez, typical men, I don't have time to deal with crap like this' _she thought, a scowl now present on her face.

She got into her examination room and started setting things up, she rolled up the sleeves of her shirt, grabbed her lab coat and picked up her clipboard with the names of the recruits she was to inspect.

These guys were specifically scouted for her project because they had the correct physical attributes for it, so Lucy just had to make sure that they can back-up their muscle by giving them a physical exam.

_'__Lets see… oh crap, shouldn't forget to write those two guys names down… there we go, Natsu and Grey. Now my first recruits name is… Loke Celestial, ok guess I might as well call him out' _thought Lucy.

She stepped out and made her way to the recruits waiting area; a few of them actually had the nerve to make cat-call sounds at her; which pissed her off immensely.

"You boys keep that up and I'll make Dr Bob do all of your physicals, and I'm sure you've all heard of him from his other unfortunate victims?" said Lucy with an evil smile.

The recruits faces just paled and they kept their mouths shut. Lucy smirked to herself, she loved using Dr Bob to scare the recruits, their faces were just priceless.

"Ok, can Loke Celestial please come with me?" she called out.

Suddenly a guy with thick orange hair stood up, and for some odd reason he was wearing shades indoors, Lucy raised her eyebrow at him as he approached.

"I'm Loke Celestial" he said with a sickeningly sweet smile, Lucy kept a blank expression while the guy kept smiling.

"Ok then, Mr Celestial if you would please come this way" she said as she started walking back to her exam room and closed the door behind Loke.

"Ok Mr Celestial, I'm going to need you to strip down to your underwear please" said Lucy with a straight face.

"Oh my, but Miss I don't even know your name and you want me to strip in front of you? How bold" said Loke with a smile.

Lucy's eye twitched, _'I knew it, this guy is a total playboy' _thought Lucy _'Better put him in his place'_.

"Mr Celestial, this is a very serious exam, if you don't take your role hear seriously you can just go, I'm sure I can find another suitable recruit elsewhere. One who won't waste my time" said Lucy with a stern expression.

"Ok ok, my bad, but can I at least know your name?" said Loke as he raised his hands in surrender.

Lucy pulled back a bit "Dr Heartfilia" she said.

"What, I don't get a first name?" he asked a little disappointed. Lucy gave him a death-glare "What was that?" she asked.

Loke gulped in fear and started to take his clothes off "S-sorry Doctor" he said in a girlish voice.

Lucy nodded her head at his response, and she began his exam.

Despite his numerously annoying flirting attempts, Lucy gave him a pass on his physical, but warned him that if he tried to flirt with her again she'd send Dr Bob after him. Luckily that was enough to shut him up when he left.

It was now 13:30, Lucy still had 5 more appointments for the day, and that one guy had nearly drained her completely. _'Sigh, this is gonna be a long day'_ she thought to herself.

* * *

After her first 3 appointments Lucy was absolutely exhausted, if that Loke guy wasn't bad enough, this weird guy Dan Straight annoyed the absolute HELL out of her, saying crap like how she's his soul mate and that they should get married and trying to get her to tell him her name, suffice to say he did not make the cut.

The only guy she could tolerate was a guy named Gajeel Redfox, he was the only guy who didn't even remotely flirt with her or ask her any personal information, but for some reason he had decided to call her bunny-girl but she let it slide considering that he wasn't trying to hit on her.

He passed his exam with flying colours.

Lucy checked the time and noticed that it was 14:40, _'Damn, that stupid Dan guy made me waste a whole 10 minutes fending him off!' _she thought _'Oh, well, guess I'll have to have a shorter lunch break then'._

She then got out the recruitment centre and headed over to the hotdog stand that was going around, she ordered a regular hotdog with mustard and went over to a tree to sit and eat under it. She also brought a book with her to keep herself entertained. She sat down on her knees and started eating, once she was done she continued from where she left off in her book _'Lets see now… oh that's right I'm at the part where he tells her why she thinks she knows him' _.

* * *

Natsu and Grey arrived at the recruitment centre at 15:15, Grey insisted on leaving early coz he was afraid Natsu was going to make them late if they left any later.

They were about to walk inside when they saw Lucy and some guy arguing about something.

"Oi Grey, what's going on over there?" asked Natsu

"Dunno, should we check it out?" said Grey glancing at Natsu

Natsu just gave off a grin "Well if we help her we'll definitely get the job right?" he said.

Grey just shook his head in disbelieve and walked towards Lucy, they could hear the argument taking place.

"I thought I told you to get the hell away from me!" yelled Lucy as she tried to pry some guy off her arm.

"But we're meant to be my beautiful angel!" the creepy guy said.

Lucy was going to snap any second, that damn Dan guy just wouldn't get the message, hell, she even told security to throw him out for his physical coz he wouldn't leave.

"Ano ne, if you don't let go of me in the next 5 seconds I'll make you wish you were born a woman" she said in a low growl while using her free hand to adjust her glasses.

"Aaaawwwww, my sweetheart says the cutest things, my love for you transcends gender-barriers!" he yelled.

"That was 3 seconds, you have 2 left" she warned

"But baby… cant you feel my love!?" he asked

"Times up" she said

"Hey do you need any-" "-Gaaaaaaaahhhhh!" Greys question was interrupted by Dans groans of pain.

Lucy had slammed him into a tree by kicking him in his gut, and then she kicked him in his groin so hard that he couldn't even utter a word to describe the pain he felt. Then she pulled him by his hair so that she could talk straight into his face.

"Now, for the millionth time, . . !" she yelled as she kneed him in his face, effectively delivering the final blow.

She was panting heavily from too much physical exertion and anger, but then regained her composure.

"U-u-uh, a-a-ano…" was all Grey could say, while Natsu was rolling on the floor laughing his ass off.

"D-d-did you see that Grey?! Hahahahahahaha! I like this chick, she can kick ass when she needs to Hahahahaha!" said Natsu

Lucy turned around and noticed that she had drawn a crowd; she cleared her throat and pushed her glasses back while flushing in embarrassment.

"Ahem, nothing to see here people, just dealing with a pest" she said with a neutral expression, everyone around her just sweat-dropped at her actions, while Natsu was trying to contain his laughter.

Lucy then noticed the pin-SALMON haired guy laughing on the floor, she looked at her watch and realised that it was now time for there appointment.

Grey was dumbfounded, he thought that all this chick did was work in a lab and do experiments and stuff, he never expected her to be so… so… badass.

He snapped out of his daze when Lucy approached them with a sheepish look on her face "S-sorry if that freaked you out a little, he kinda just got on my last nerve" she said while rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment.

Natsu had finally stopped laughing and stood up next to Grey with his famous grin on his face "Hey, no need to apologize to us, I can't speak for droopy-eyes over here but I thought you were pretty awesome!" said Natsu.

"What you say slanty-eyes!?" said Grey, and they continued with their usual insults with each other.

Lucy gave the guy a surprised stare, nobody ever said that to her before, normally most guys would run away from her in terror, but to complement her on beating a guy up… that was a first for her.

Her face suddenly had a slight shade of pink on it and she turned her head to the side hoping that nobody noticed.

"T-thanks I guess" she said in a shy voice.

Natsu and Grey both heard her and looked back at her to see her face, when they saw her embarrassed face they both had the same thought _'C-cute…'_ and felt their faces become a tad warm.

"Well, enough wasting time, let's get going" she said, her expression returning to her serious face. She grabbed both men by their wrists and pulled them inside the recruitment building, while they were dumbfounded by the sudden change in emotion.

* * *

As they came closer to where the recruits were they noticed the perverted stares that were directed in Lucy's direction and felt a little disgusted by them.

Natsu then went closer to Grey to whisper something to him "See Grey, I told you those guys would be annoying for her".

Grey just rolled his eyes at his idiot friend's behaviour; Lucy stopped pulling them suddenly and turned to look at them.

"Ok, so which one of you wants to be examined first?" she asked with a small smile.

They looked at each other and shrugged then turned back to Lucy. Then she suddenly shrieked and pointed at Grey incredulously.

"For Gods-sakes if you wanted to go first you could have just said so! You didn't have to strip right in front of everybody!" yelled Lucy with an angry look on her face.

Grey looked confused for a second and looked to Natsu hoping for an explanation, but he was just holding his face in his hands; embarrassed at his friends odd habits.

Grey then looked down at himself and noticed that he was only wearing his boxers.

"Gah! When did that happen!?" he yelled while scrambling for his clothes.

"Sorry about that, I should have mentioned that I have this weird habit of stripping uncontrollably" he said while scratching the back of his head in embarrassment.

"What the hell kind of weird habit is that, are you some kind of exhibitionist?" she asked with a slightly reserved tone.

"What the- No!"

"Hahahahaha!" Natsu was crying from laughing so much.

"Shut up Natsu! Anyway I swear I don't do this on purpose, you can ask Natsu or even Cana if you don't believe me!" he yelled.

"Haha, he's not lying Lucy, he's been that way since he was a kid. Man that was a fun day at school!" he said with a grin, remembering Grey and him when they were kids and he suddenly stripped in front of his teacher.

Lucy raised her eyebrow at him then let out an exasperated sigh "Fine, I'll let it slide for now, anyway lets get you into my section" she said as she ushered Grey into her examination room.

* * *

**[A/N: Ok that's where I'll stop for this chapter, should I make the next one Greys p.o.v or Natsus? Please tell me which one you prefer and I shall make it so! Also REVIEW XD] **


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